The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-02-09


until the recent shadow of estrangement
and distrust that had arisen between them.
No; puzzle her brain and search her
memory as she might, she could alight upon
no possible motive for that unwonted pre-
occupation and secret sadness that had
taken possession of him, other than that
bis thoughts must be engaged with
some other through the pas
sion of some new love, or the fear
of some sighted oil one, which
had arisen, like an accusing ghost, to mar
the felicity that he had found in her, in his
own loving young wife, Hilda Delorme.
yes; it must be one or the other" she
Mt last muttered, as she aroused herself
from her painful Ieyery TO pace the floor
with nervous steps. This torment is too
great to be long endured. That strange
woman whom Norah saw him walking with
on the cliffs-this sudden and unexplained
visit to Halifax at this unwonted hourl
Since he will not tell me his secret must
find il out
Her distress and curios ty at length be-
came so overmastering that she suddenly
resolved upon step the mere thought OF
which, under cooler and less tumultuous
conditions, would have caused her a self
accusing blush. She determined to insti-
tute surreptitious search into certain
secret drawer of her husbands secretary,
which he had always kept jealousy guarded
under the plea of its containing precious
documents pertaining to his estate that it
would be better never to disturb.
She did blush little upon coming to
this determination, but overpowered as
she was by her growing suspicious, she
nevertheless FASTENED 10 carry 1t out. She
swept into the cabinet containing the desk,
w oil ha
by means of bunch of keys
that hung from one of the Enclosures,
opened it without much difficulty. The
secret private drawer had been pointed out
10 her before. and, after n brief investiga-
ton, neither did she find much trouble in
opening this also by pressing a small
spring hidden underneath the wood.
She had hardly expected TO find therein
anything but the business documents
OF which he had limited. But, to her sur
prise, the drawer contained nothing but
some torn fragments of a letter and copy
of an English newspaper. The letter frag
ments were so minute that hardly an en-
tire word could be made out on any one of
them, but the writing was obviously In n
woman's hand, and finally, upon one of
the larger morsels, she deciphered the
word "Estelle, with a little flourish under
ter signature.
She greedily devoured the contents of
the newspaper. 1t gave an account of n
London divorce trial of five years previ-
ously, in which Archibald Monteith sued
for divorce against Estelle Monteith, his
wife, upon charges of gross criminality and
misconduct, whose details the fair reader
avoided with shuddering disgust, and the
bare Characterization of which caused her
cheeks TO burn. She only read enough of
the reports TO learn that the injured hus-
bands plea had ultimately been granted,
and the faithless wife thrust away from
him forever, despised and branded in all
good women's eyes, and was wondering
what interest on earth her Archie could have
In boarding up this relic of another mans
miserable marriage experience, when
light step upon the carpet of the adjoining
room, whose communicating door she mad
left half adiar, caused her to start up and
thrust the paper back into the drawer, with
a blush of guilty fright and confusion.
1t only proved to be the step of Norah,
her maid however, who had come to tell
her mistress that Luncheon had been served,
and to know if she should seek the master.
81 will come at once; Mr.. Delorme will
not be here till dinner time" said Hilda,
dismissing the servant with n gesture, and
drawing great breath of relief.
She then gathered up all the fragments
of the letter and put them, with the news
paper, III her pocket, with the intention of
secretly piecing them together III their or
iginal shape and mastering the purport OF
the entire epiStle, which she felt intuitively
was in some mysterious way connected
with her husbands secret; after which she
left the secretary as she had found it, and
went 10 the dining room.
But she had neither heart nor appetite
for the expensive and admirably served
collation. that was awaiting her there. After
slipping a cup of tea and nervously playing
with two or three dishes, she fastened to
lock herself in her boudoir, where, with a
broad sheet of card board in her lap and
a tiny pot OF mucilage at hand, she lost no
time III trying to arrange the morsels of
the letter III harmony with their context.
1t bad luckily been written upon but one
side of leaf of letter paper, which con-
siderably facilitated her self-imposed task;
but the fragments were so minute and IL
regular that she labored for hours ineffec-
tually, and at last the sun went down upon
an unfinished work
1t was finally with feeling of WEAKNESS
and disgust with the world in general. and
herself in particular, that she put away the
materials upon which she had been en-
gagged, and gave yawning sigh of dis
satisfaction; and, moment later, her maid
knocked at her door, to say that Mr.. De-
lorme had returned from the city alone
though it was his usual custom to bring
back q guest or two with him-and was
dressing for dinner.
After the manner of many of the English
upper classes, Mr.. and Mrs. Delorme occu-
pied separate apartments. Without open
ing the door of her boudoir, Hilda called
out to the servant that she would be down
presently, without requiring the usual as
sistance in dressing; and then, leaning
her head pensively on her hand,
remained for some moments gazing
out of her window, which opened upon
magnificent marine view, with the bound
less expanse of blue ocean in the distance,
and charming intervening features OF cliff
and shore. interspersed with betting wood
lands, cultivated fields, and fishing huts,
over which the red light of the setting sun
slept peacefully and bright.
Suddenly she started, clenched her
hands, and breathed painfully, while the
petulant discomfort that had brooded in her
beautiful eyes all day lightened into a
moody flash, as she perceived the lonely
figure of a woman moving far away upon
the edge of the sea-beetling cliff, and now
and then turning her head as though to
watch the isolated and stately mansion in